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9 DATE: August 19, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
Marlene Subhashini, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Sofia Mangalam, Community Development Director
Nori Jabba, Housing Coordinator
Vanessa Brannon, Senior Management Analyst
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
SUBJECT: ISSUANCE OF A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR RENTAL
REGISTRY SOFTWARE AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO
ADMINISTER THE RENTAL REGISTRY PROGRAM
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution, authorizing staff to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for rental registry software and professional services to administer the Rental Registry Program and find the request exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guideline Section 15061(b)(3).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Housing Element is an integral part of the Foster City General Plan that serves to identify the community’s housing needs; state the community’s goals and objectives with regard to housing production, rehabilitation, and preservation, and conservation to meet those needs; and define the policies and programs that the community will implement to achieve the stated goals and objectives. On March 20, 2024, the City Council adopted a General Plan Amendment consisting of revisions to the 2023-31 Housing Element.
The Housing Element Programs include the City’s commitment to timeframes for implementation. The Annual Progress Report to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), due by April 1 of each year, reports on progress in implementation of these Programs.
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9 The Rental Registry Program is included under H-G, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and, specifically, to implement Policy H-G-2, Improved Access to Fair Housing Information. The language in the Housing Element, Program H-G-2-e, Rental Registry, states:
H-G-2-e Rental Registry. Unless a requirement for a State rental registry is adopted, explore a rental registry that tracks information such as rents, utilities, accessibility for disabled persons, tenant occupancy dates, and landlord contact information in order to improve the information available to landlords, tenants, and decision-makers.
Responsible Agency: Community Development Department;
Timeframe: Report to City Council by the end of 2024;
Funding Source: General Fund.
– City of Foster City Housing Element, Page HE-102
Staff recommends that the City Council authorizes staff to issue an RFP soliciting proposals from qualified firms for a rental registry software and professional services for program administration.
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS
A rental registry is an organized database or record-keeping system designed to track comprehensive information concerning rental properties and their respective owners and tenants. Its primary objectives include monitoring adherence to housing regulations, analyzing trends within the housing market and providing valuable insights to policymakers for the formulation of effective housing policies.
Staff researched other Cities in the Bay Area that has established Rental Registry in recent times, including:
• City Alameda (January 1, 2020): Multi-family rentals built before Feb 1995, • City of Concord (July 1, 2021): All multifamily complexes of four or more units • City of El Cerrito (July 1, 2023): All rental properties • City of Half Moon Bay (February 6, 2024): All rental units • City of San Francisco (January 18, 2021)
The rental registry will help the City of Foster City further fair housing by providing valuable data about rental units throughout the City. Currently, the City only monitors data for below-market-rate (BMR) units. The proposed rental registry would allow the City to monitor market-rate and BMR units. Data would be used to better understand trends and information relating to occupancy and household sizes, rental rates, vacancies, and unit sizes. The rental registry would have information available to property owners and members of the public for research and to assist in finding affordable rental housing.
The program would require, by City Ordinance, all landlords and owners of rental property or their authorized agent to register their properties by a specific deadline and update information annually. A reasonable fee per unit would be charged to each property owner 7 0
9 annually. Many cities include financial incentives such as reduced fees or fee waivers in the first year if registrants submit data by a specific deadline to promote compliance. Staff will present the Ordinance to the City Council for adoption at a future meeting date.
The scope of the RFP includes two (2) tasks:
•TASK 1: Software system solutions to collect and manage all information submitted.
•TASK 2: Professional services to help administer the Rental Registry Program.
These are the minimum requirements for the Rental Registry implementation, as included in the RFP:
•Rental Unit Information Collection: Initial and ongoing efforts. •Quality Control: Ensuring data accuracy.
•Registration Fee Collection: Efficient fee collection mechanisms. •Data Analysis and Reporting: For policymaking purposes. •Community Notifications: Keeping the community informed. •Education, Training, Outreach, and Engagement: Comprehensive educational and engagement efforts to owners and landlords.
The draft RFP is included as Attachment #2 to this Staff Report.
If approved, the RFP will be issued on August 20, 2024, with a due date of September 10, 2024. City staff will review and evaluate the proposed scope of work, experiences of firm, staffing, experiences of firm, and budget submitted by consultants and will ensure that the proposal meets and fulfills the City’s standards and requirements. Attachment 2 is the proposed Draft RFP that will be issued if the City Council approves this item. Based upon the Scope of Work and Timeline as outlined, an agreement with the prospective consulting firm would be tentatively scheduled for City Council consideration and awarded at its October 7, 2024, meeting.
CEQA
The issuance of an RFP is exempt per CEQA Guideline Section 15061(b)(3), Common Sense Exemption
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no cost associated with the issuance of the RFP. The cost for the consultant services will be brought to the City Council along with the award of the contract at a future meeting. However, funding for this work is budgeted in the Community Development account 001-0810-419-42-51 in the amount of $25,000.
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9 CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA Smart Planning, Development, and the Local Economy
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 - Resolution
Attachment 2 - Request for Proposals for Rental Registry